


Newbie

by Rusted_Crutches



Series: Species Swap AU [1]
Category: Cafe Cardamari Tales (Webcomic), Splatoon
Genre: Canon Divergence, Dialogue Heavy, Gen, Hybrid Splatoon 1/Splatoon 2 timeline, Inkling!Tetrox, Octoling!Arnick, Species swap au, info dump, no beta reader we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-25
Updated: 2019-04-25
Packaged: 2020-01-31 22:04:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18600295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rusted_Crutches/pseuds/Rusted_Crutches
Summary: City renowned turf-war team, team Toxink, has been in search for its fourth and final member for some time.Seeing as (in addition to being league champions for three years in a row) they’re most well known for defended their title, and winning countless of games with only three members, that may come as a surprise to some of you. After all, Toxink has never had any trouble defending their place at the top before. All thanks to their focused and cautious inker, Cyanthia and her splatter shot, their speedy and accurate slayer, Tetrox with her bamboozler, and finally, their captain, a heavy hitter and team carrier, Belladonna, wielding the mighty gold dynamo, their team has rarely lost at all. With such impressive stats, it’s never any wonder why Toxink always comes out on top in battle.However, having only three teammates is still something that can potentially put them at a disadvantage one day — no matter how good they are.





	Newbie

**Author's Note:**

> Hey all! Welcome to the start of the species swap AU! 
> 
> Some of you may recall a few drawings Tammy did a long while ago, featuring Arnick and Tetrox as opposite species. I don't quite remember if she herself called it an AU, or if it was just a series of drawings, but either way, nothing was done with the concept besides the aforementioned drawings.
> 
> I really liked the potential surrounding the idea if it were an AU, so I decided to pick it up and make it my own (now that i've finished Chronic Recollection, I can finally get started!) The stories will be all mine with little inspiration from outside sources, but the [designs](https://cafe-cardamari.tumblr.com/post/175206900728/with-pleasure-with-the-new-hairstyles-i-decided) of Octo Anrick and Inkling Tetrox are originally made by TamarinFrog. 
> 
> Not much is put into this first fic besides some info about the AU's world, so you wont be seeing any Tetrox/Arnick interaction just yet. Surprisingly, we'll actually be following Belladonna's POV for this first instance, imagine that.
> 
> ~Enjoy

City renowned turf-war team, team Toxink, has been in search for its fourth and final member for some time.

Seeing as (in addition to being league champions for _three years in a row_ ) they’re most well known for defended their title, and winning countless of games with only _three_ members, that _may_ come as a surprise to some of you. After all, Toxink has never had _any_ trouble defending their place at the top before. All thanks to their focused and cautious inker, Cyanthia and her splattershot, their speedy and accurate slayer, Tetrox with her bamboozler, and finally, their captain, a heavy hitter and team carrier, Belladonna, wielding the mighty gold dynamo, their team has rarely lost at all. With such impressive stats, it’s never any wonder why Toxink always comes out on top in battle.

However, having only three teammates is still something that can potentially put them at a disadvantage one day — no matter _how_ good they are.

It’s something Belladonna has been thinking about a lot. She knows it may sound silly and ridiculous to others... After all, her and the girls have been on a winning streak for a while, and they haven’t once suffered a lost battle as a result of lacking one extra teammate, so why the need? Well, while it’s true they’re more than capable as they are now, they aren’t _invincible_ . They’ve lost a few times here and there, and will lose more than a few times in the future. It’s inevitable. _No one_ has a perfect win streak like that.

They’re probably the closest thing to it, though.

Even so, Belladonna understands their impenetrable defense can't stay up forever. With the ever changing meta and new, incredible teams always popping up last minute, she knows it’s only a matter of time before that empty spot on the team will be their downfall, and someone will best them. One day they’ll really need that extra hand to help them out. She needs prepare for the changing tides as soon as possible

Now, Belladonna doesn’t think that her team will be dethroned _anytime_ soon, — no sirree — but it never hurt to be cautious, and plan in advanced. Plus, adapting to a new teammate can take a while, and training them doubles that time if they aren’t as skilled as everyone else. It’s not exactly something you wait to do until the very last second. It’s better to integrate a new asset of the team early on, before they became truly desperate for one. _Certainly_ way before any upcoming competitive seasons.

With that in mind, she started the search immediately. She had hoped between herself, Cyanthia, and Tetrox, they would have been able to find someone relatively quickly. They were a popular team after all, who _wouldn’t_ want to join them? People should have been lining themselves down the block, _just_ for the _chance_ to get an audience with them, let alone try out for the team! Though… this was all nearly two months ago… and that wasn’t what happened...

Very few people bothered to show up for a try out. Maybe a handful each day at _most_ . Apparently, previously unbeknownst to Belladonna, Toxink, while loved and envied/admired by many, is also feared by quite a lot of others — the two groups often overlapping with each other. This meant the number of potential players they thought would show up was cut down _considerably_ . Many people, possibly even incredibly skilled individuals, probably _considered_ showing up for a try out, but didn’t bother because they didn’t think they’d make the cut, or were too _scared_ of them.

Hell, half of the people who _did_ bother showing up were still nervous wrecks! They were absolutely terrified to be there, and didn’t even fit Toxink’s requirements! Then the other half (actually skilled players) were far too stuck up, selfish or self absorbed for Belladonna to even _consider_ past a half glance at their credentials. Sure, some of them were incredibly good players, but lacking even the most basic of teamwork skills they teach you in primary school, they were useless to her.

For a sport that relied so heavily on communication and synergy, Belladonna was surprised there weren't many team players out there... A team needs to click together and fit in to place. If one of the cogs in the machine is spinning the opposite direction, the whole operation comes to a grinding halt.

Still, they carried on with their search and held tryouts everyday, hoping they could find _someone_ . However, as the days rolled by and less and less people showed up, they lost more and more hope. Clearly, this wasn’t going to be easy, and their method _wasn’t_ working. So, Belladonna took down the advertisements she set up around the square and plaza, then told Cyanthia and Tetrox they would be taking it upon themselves to go out into the world, and search for new players on their own. ...It seemed like a solid plan at the time, but, unfortunately, it wasn’t much better than the previous method... Cyanthia and Belladonna hadn’t had any luck finding anyone, and all the people Tetrox brought in never turned out to be very good matches.

Oh, that Tetrox… She was a social and extroverted girl. She was the most qualified out of everyone on the team to go out and find potential new members. She could pull anyone she wanted into a friendly conversation, no matter how off putting or distant they seemed to be. She would be able to convince people Toxink wasn’t that bad, that there was nothing to be afraid of — and she did! However… she wasn’t focused on anything past their turfing talent. She’d brought in several people she thought would be a good fit for the team, but were probably the worst people for the job. None of them were _bad_ players, not by any means, but they all suffered from the same problem. _They just weren’t team players and didn’t fit the dynamic_. She meant well, but her efforts were usually fruitless.

Anyway, they’re going to have a team meeting about it today. The were gathering at the crust bucket soon, and Belladonna should really get going if she wanted to make it on time. Of all the people late to the party, the team captain shouldn’t be one of them. So, she gets out of bed and grabs her jungle hat off her dresser, plops it on, and heads out of the apartment down to the family flower shop, and on her way out. With a wave of goodbye to her many jellyfish siblings, she begins her short walk to the train station.

 

* * *

 

Belladonna arrives at Inkopolis station within a thirty minute train ride. She then makes her quick journey from the platforms all the way to Inkopolis Square, about twenty minutes away. Everytime she has to walk there, it makes her miss the old plaza more and more. She misses the old shops and busy bustling atmosphere of the first lobby's location a lot... but most of all, she longs for the convenience of having a train station just outside of booyah base. I mean, she’s fit and has no problem walking, but it’s something she still hasn’t gotten used to, and it’s quite the hassle in certain weather conditions. Regardless, Belladonna pushes away these thoughts and continues on her walk as she does every day, and soon finds herself at the square’s entrance.

She makes her way past the gate and enters the main area. Devoid of almost any life, no more than a few locals are hanging around what was to become the new hot spot for turf war in a few months. There were shops off to the side of the square for the purpose of distributing gear, just like back at the plaza, but none of them had yet been opened to the public. As a matter of fact, the only stores in the area that ever open are Amino Knights, the weapon shop, and The Crust Bucket, a food truck that offered special power ups for turf war players in the form of food.

Belladonna had yet to be inside the weapons shop, (its hours being incredibly limited since it was run by the same guy working over at booyah base) but she was familiar with the Crust Bucket. The food truck is actually where she has been holding their team meetings the past few months. It’s also where they hang out on their time off. It was also the most convenient place for Cyanthia, Tetrox, and herself to convene. Additionally, It didn’t get much business, so they always got their privacy when discussing important matters, or personal affairs. The food there was pretty good, too, considering the owner of the restaurant is a part time shoe salesman at booyah base.

Belladonna grabs a seat at one of the many tables set out near the food truck, and sits and waits for the other two to arrive. She sits there in boredom for a little while, watching the few people around the square wander about. Luckily, though, Cyanthia shows up within thirty minutes, and the two are quick to conversation, exchanging pleasantries and catching up. Punctual as always, she arrived several minutes before the original set time, and now all they had to do was wait for Tetrox… who was _always_ late.

No matter what day and time they set up these meetings, Tetrox is always the last to arrive. She wasn’t always that way. She used to be _amazingly_ on time the first few months she was on the team. Ever since she got that job at that new Grizzco place, though, her punctuality quickly declined.

Her tardiness was always random and selective, and she never seemed to have a fixed schedule. Ranging from only being a few minutes late, to upwards of an _hour_ , and always giving vague and clumsy excuses for her absence, Belladonna sometimes wonders why or how she bothers showing up to their meetings at all. She supposed that meant the girl was dedicated at least somewhat, but that thought didn’t make the situation any less frustrating.

Though Belladonna may try, and she _has_ , nothing she seems to do ever whips Tetrox into shape.

Belladonna looks down to her phone for the billionth time. It’s already forty five minutes past eight, and their legendary cap clad lassie was still nowhere to be found. Incapable of waiting any longer, Belladonna decides to try calling Tetrox and yelling at her to get her butt over here. She’s already tried it before and it hadn’t worked, granted, but she was far too stubborn to give up after the first try… or second… or third… or fourth… or (well, you get the picture).

So, she hastily dials in phone digits into her squid-pod. However, the call doesn’t even get the chance to ring, her screen reading ‘call ended’ immediately. Just as she’s about to call back and try again, she hears Tetrox shouting in the distance.

“I’m here, i’m here!” She yells, waving her hand in the air frantically, drawing Cyanthia and Belladonna’s attention.

The two look over to her and watch as she takes a moment or two to jog over to their table. Though sweaty and somewhat exhausted from running, she looks relatively bright eyed, bushy tailed, and glad to be there. She plops down on a seat in between the two other girls, taking a moment to intake some very much needed deep breaths, before speaking again.

“S-sorry i’m late!” She says still panting “I had a salon appointment this mornin’... and by the time they got my t-tentacles done… the early bird rush just started goin’! I had t-to run all the way here...”

Out of concern, Cyanthia hands over the cup of water she had been drinking to Tetrox, who tilts her head back like she’s doing shots, and guzzles it down in seconds. Meanwhile, Belladonna sits and stares at her with a mixture of irritation at her tardiness, and perplexity at where in the world she could have just ran from that left her so winded. Which in the hell salon did she go to, the Head Fin Sal-mon, all the way on the other side of town?! Because by the way she’s gasping for air right now, Belladonna is concerned Tetrox just completed a spontaneous marathon.

Luckily, though, she didn’t have to worry all that much. Tetrox was _quite_ the runner and prepared for long runs on the daily, and recovers quickly from lengthy sprints that would cost most others to keel over, so she was fine after another minute or two. All was well.

“You alright there?” Belladonna asks finally.

Tetrox takes in another deep breath before giving Belladonna an enthusiastic salute and award winning smile. “All set!”

“Alright. Now that we’re all here, I guess we can get on with today’s agenda. Cyanthia, would would you?”

A whole fifty and a half minutes behind schedule, their meeting finally gets underway.

In addition to further discussing the ongoing search for a fourth team member for Toxink, today’s gathering was also just like any other normal meeting (Tetrox had been really late the last few times, and severe rescheduling had to be done). Together, everyone exchanged schedules, made plans for future play/training sessions, compared stats, and brought up anything they felt like the team needed to improve on — the usual.

She was thankful the meeting had finally started and it was getting in done and over with, but Belladonna found herself struggling to concentrate only a few minutes in. Tetrox was lightly bouncing in her seat next to her, shaking the table. She seemed excited about something, but didn’t voice it and her struggle to hold her tongue and wait for her turn to speak was quite distracting. Belladonna could probably take a guess at why the other was so fidgety. Iit made her nervous in anticipation, and she hoped she was wrong.

However, half an hour later, when it finally came time to discuss their team search and Tetrox’s hand shot straight up instantly, Belladonna’s fears are realized. _Again_ . _Of course_ . Nearly each meeting they had about the subject, she always brought someone new in for a try out... and _none_ of them ever worked out. Her perseverance was admirable, and Belladonna genuinely appreciated all the attempts to find a player, but she wasn’t very good at it. The last person she brought in was a fourteen year old who hadn’t even reached level _ten_ yet. Needless to say, Belladonna wasn’t looking forward to what Tetrox had in store for today.

“Tetrox?” Belladonna calls on her, albeit a little hesitantly.

“Okay, now I _know_ I don’t got the best track record for this, but I _swear_ this time I found someone that would be _perfect_ for the team!”

Belladonna struggles to hold back a sigh. ‘Here we go again’ she thought to herself.  “Tetrox, you say that _every_ time.”

“I know…” Tetrox says sheepishly, fidgeting with her tentacle. “but I really think i’ve found a good one this time—!”

Belladonna can barely keep from rolling her eyes and shaking her head as Tetrox begins rambling.

‘This time is different’ she says. ‘You’re really gonna like ‘em!’ she says. Belladonna has heard it all before. The repetitive promises were getting a little depressing at this point. Every time Tetrox said ‘this is the one!’ she sounded like she truly believed it. She _genuinely_ thought she found someone who would be a perfect fit for the team. This is what kept Belladonna from ever turning away her candidates, and let her continue to search for new members on her own. She just was so convinced… Belladonna didn’t have it in her to crush her spirits so fast. Besides, out of all the people she’ll continue to bring in, they’ll manage to find _the one_ eventually… right?

Belladonna brings up her hand, silencing Tetrox “Alright, Alright, i’ve heard enough already, just bring ‘em out and lets get this over with.” she huffs

Despite the other’s disinterested tone, Tetrox’s face lights up with glee and excitement as she stands up and looks over toward the food truck “Alright, you can come out now!” she shouts, hands cupped over her mouth.

Cyanthia and Belladonna both look to the truck, where Tetrox was turned towards, and watched carefully. They wait a few moments, expecting for someone to appear, but no one does. They exchange confused glances at each other, but continue to wait. When a few more seconds pass by and a comical gust of wind blows by, Belladonna turns her attention to Crusty Sean, in his truck getting ready for his lunch break. She raises an eyebrow at him, as if to ask ‘is it you?’ but he shrugs and shakes his head. She looks back to Tetrox, who hasn’t moved, and continues staring over to just the side of the truck. It then occurred to Belladonna that the girl may have gone _fucking bonkers_ since she last saw her.

“Uh, Tetrox—”

Belladonna tries to speak up and voice her concern, but before she gets the chance to question her, Tetrox suddenly storms behind the truck with irritated stomps. She disappears behind it, then a faint and quiet argument is heard between her, and an unrecognizable voice, as well as some scuffling. Moments later, Belladonna and Cyanthia witness a boy appear from behind the truck, stumbling, followed by a _very_ disgruntled Tetrox (seems like she pushed him out by the looks of it). She pulls the man to his feet by the back of his shirt like a mother cat to her kitten, which he makes a sound of disapproval at, and presents him to the others.

“This, is Arnick.” She says cheery and upbeat despite her demeanor.

Belladonna takes a moment to examine him, this… Arnick, and is quite surprised to find it wasn’t just another fourteen year old kid. He actually looked to be about Tetrox’s age, give or take a year, and stood only about an inch shorter than her as well. She notes he was also quite pale and thin. It wasn’t to the point where he looked sick, just not as fit as your typical turf war player. Honestly, it was barely noticeable unless you were really looking, like Belladonna was.

The gear he wore was dark, which is probably what made him look so much paler and thinner than he likely was. He donned a sporty bobble hat, wore an octo-tee, and finished off the ensemble with a pair of (incredibly worn) replica octoling boots. Aside from the main abilities, each item was decked out with pure swim speed sets, which was _damn_ impressive. This guy definitely knows his way around in a battle, if his high level gear is anything to go by.

He did seem to hold promise as a potential candidate on the outside but… still, Belladonna knew he wouldn’t make the cut.

It’s not that he didn’t look the part… it’s just... you could tell by _looking_ at him that he _really_ didn’t want to be there. He lacked any and all enthusiasm you would expect from how he had been described. He refused to look at anyone entirely, even when Tetrox urged him to. He insisted on staring off to the side angrily, unmoving. His arms were crossed tightly over his chest, shoulders raise, neck lowered, and face contorted into an angry scowl. Everything about him screamed ‘I want to leave’. Overall... he look pretty pissed off, and like he was to lash out at any second. It’s quite clear this grumpy octoling would prefer to be literally _anywhere_ else—

Hang on a second… Octoling…?

 _Octoling_?!

Belladonna does a double take, and examines him more closely — his face in particular. Sure enough all the obvious signs (minus the tentacles, covered by his hat) were there. Face mask with pointed tips coming out of the bottom; check. Figure eight looking pupils; check. Rounded out ears with one side that looked like it couldn’t be heard out of; check. Damn… She hadn’t seen many octolings in her day, let alone a _male_ octoling... but she had played against team Petal Splash’s captain up close and personal _plenty_ enough times to be pretty damn sure _this_ guy was one of ‘em.

“Well, what’s his credentials? What weapon does he play?” Cyanthia asks, breaking the silence.

“Well he don’t got too much under his belt _officially_ as of yet, but he’s damn good with an octo-shot — OW, hey!”

“Tetrox, I need to talk to you for a second, _alone_.”

Midway through her sentence, Tetrox is dragged away from the group by Belladonna, pulling her by her single tentacle. The other two watch them closely, and she doesn’t loosen her grip until they’re far enough away that Belladonna is _confident_ they can’t be heard. It isn’t until they’re standing next to the closed hat shop that she releases her.  
  
“Tetrox, have you gone _mad_?!” Belladonna exclaims harshly.

Tetrox flinches back in surprise at the hiss and looks shocked. She looks back at the man at the truck, then back to Belladonna cautiously.. “Whaddya mean, Sugar—?”

“Don’t play dumb with me! _Why_ did you bring him here?!”

For a moment, Tetrox almost looks like a frightened animal. Her eyes are wide in surprise, and she’s folded in on herself in fear, as if she’s confused. However, she quickly regains herself and speaks again. “I— well, I _wouldn’t_ have if i’d _known_ you were gonna react this way!” she says loudly “What are you? Some kind of racist—!”

Belladonna quickly slaps a hand over Tetrox’s mouth and escorts her into the nearby alleyway for some _much_ needed privacy. After her outburst, they had attracted the attention of everyone in the square, and they _didn’t_ need onlookers for this conversation. Her hand remains over the other’s mouth. Her grasp isn’t rough or angrily, but _stern_. Once again, she begins to speak.

“No. Now look, I _know_ you’re not stupid, you know _very_ well what i’m talking about.”

Tetrox rolls her eyes and pulls Belladonna’s hand off her mouth as she puts on of her own on her hip, irritated. “And why are you?” she asks “Because you, along with every bottom feeding gossip guzzler in town, think all them octolings comin’ to town are, nasty evil, soldiers of some kind?” Tetrox finishes off her sentence with a mocking, pouty lower lip.

Belladonna pinches her nose, trying her  _damnedest_ not to whack her upside the head. “ _Tetrox_ ,” she says sternly “I couldn’t care less if you brought in an _ex-convict_ who got put in jail for _murder, nobody’s_ past will ever mean _anything_ to me. I. Don’t. Care. But, you know who _does_ care?” she gestures up to Deca Tower behind them, forcing Tetrox to look “ _The turf war league_ . And if they find out we tried to register an ex-militant, our _ass_ is _sea grass_!”

Belladonna knew they were only rumors but... news had been spreading that much of the refugees that had come to Inkopolis were previously a part of the octarian army. That didn’t really bother her at all, even if it was true. Her father was ex military himself, and the rivalry between octolings and inklings was far behind them, so she didn’t care. But, not many octolings were seen in turf war, despite countless of them occupying the surrounding areas of both the square and the plaza. The TWL has this rule where people who have been part of the military in the past decade aren’t allowed to play turf wars, and because of that rule, many assumed that most octolings were veterans — Belladonna being one of them (at least at first).

In addition to the “no vets” rule, there were punishments set in place if someone tried to disobey it. The person forbidden from playing and trying to sneak in would be fined, or put in jail for a few months. If it were found they had accomplices, they too would be fined — or banned from turf war temporarily... even permanently depending on if a lobby was successfully breached.

Belladonna didn’t think Tetrox was trying to pull a fast on on her. She wouldn’t _knowingly_ risk the team by breaking the rules like that… but with all the rumors flying around, and no way to verify if the guy she brought in was ex-military or not, she couldn’t take the risk.

“But he isn’t even ex-military!” Tetrox protest

“How can you be sure?”

“Because I _trust_ him and he would tell me!”

Belladonna raised an eyebrow “You trust him, huh?”

Tetrox nods confidently.  
  
Belladonna just looks back at her with suspicion. “Well, how long have you known him?”

Tetrox loses some of her conviction “Oh, a little while, about—”

“How much do you _really_ know about him? What’s his full name? How about his age?”

“Uh, I _think_ he—”

“What’s he like?”

“Well, I can say he’s _really—_ ”

“Do you even know _where_ he’s from?”

Tetrox scratches the back of her head, a nervous tick she had picked up a long time ago, and gives an awkward smile “Oh, y’know, I.. _found_ ‘em…”

Belladonna brings her hand to wipe her forehead in exasperation. Tetrox claims to trust the guy, but nothing she says about him implies she has known him more than a _day_. She was gonna become a Disney princess at this rate if they weren't careful.

“How am I supposed to trust when you say you know he isn’t part of the military, when I can’t even trust you didn’t just _kidnap_ this guy out of octo-valley!”

“Because do you _really_ think i’d try and pull one over on you?!” Tetrox snaps, surprising Belladonna “Do you really think I would do something to _endanger_ the team? Do you think I would really break the rules so _carelessly_ ? I’ve never done anything to make you _distrust_ me! Why are you _being_ like this?”

By the end of it, she was sounding more desperate and betrayed than irrational and angry. It kinda hit Belladonna in a really uncomfortable place. She started to feel a little shameful. As team captain, she had every right to refuse anyone on any basis she wanted, but that didn’t mean she have to reaffirm her decision by making Tetrox feel like she wasn’t _trusted_. She genuinely didn’t believe she would bring in an ex-military and try to fool everybody… and if she claims he wasn’t, then she’s probably right.

Belladonna sighs “You’re right, i’m sorry. I believe you’re being honest with me, and I trust you know who you’re dealing with.”  
  
Tetrox just freezes and loses all anger in her expression. She looks shocked and bewildered at her response, as if it was completely unexpected “Really…?” she asks, unsure.

“Yes…” Belladonna pauses for dramatic effect “but he still can’t be on the team.”

“OH COME THE FRICK ON—”  
  
“Tetrox, look” she says, laying a hand on the girl’s shoulder “I know you mean well… but look at the guy!” she gestures over to him, “He looks like he doesn’t even _want_ to be here. Someone so unenthusiastic on the prospect of a tryout has no place on the team—”

Tetrox pushes Belladonna’s hand off her shoulder in irritation, and looks into her face angrily. “That’s what you always say!” she nearly shouts “Everyone I bring in, there’s always some arbitrary reason they don’t make the cut! ‘Too young, too inexperienced, too prideful, too independent’! Were out here desperately looking for a new member as quickly as possible, and you’re over here acting like you don’t even want one at all! At _least_ let him try.”

For a moment, Belladonna is angry and upset. Upset with Tetrox questioning her authority as team captain in such an unprofessional mater. For overstepping. She feels like she was gonna blow up on her if she so much as uttered one more word. She wants to flick her hard in the beak and tell her to go home, and cool off. ...She feels like she should be. Like she should be angry, and should tell her off. ...But she instead fingers herself intrigued.

She cocks her head and raises an eyebrow at Tetrox inquisitively. She has lightly protested when Belladonna turn down all the others before, but _nothing_ on this level of resistance. She’s never acted like this in other circumstances either… so what happened all of a sudden? _Why_ ? Was she finally fed up with being shot down and couldn’t hold her tongue anymore? Or was it this guy? What about him made her fight so hard for Belladonna to even just _consider_ him? It was interesting for sure.

“And why should I?” she asks, earnestly.

Tetrox reagins her confidence and stands up straight, at full attention. Her face becomes very serious as she looks Belladonna directly in the eye, unblinking. “Because I know he’ll be good for this team. He is one of the best players i’ve ever seen, and an even better strategist. He’ll follow your orders without question, and remain loyal to you through thick and thin. Even through the most petty of disputes and arguments, he can put it all behind him in an instant, and fight by your side like you aint ever been anything less than friends,” She looks over to the boy, now standing by Cyanthia, and appearing to be talking with her. Her faces relaxes, and a slight smirk crawls across her mouth as she shrugs and looks back at Belladonna “Plus, you really don’t got anythin’ to lose.”

Belladonna takes a glimpse at him and considers Tetrox’s words for a moment. She has never been this adamant about getting someone on the team before. She spoke with such honesty and conviction, Belladonna was almost convinced already. It would hurt her pride to go back on what she already said, especially since she still believed in it, but…

“Alright, i’ll give him a shot.”  
  
“Really?!” Tetrox shouts joyously, suddenly breaking her hard exterior “Oh, Sugar, thank you so much—!”

Belladonna brings up a finger and holds it up to the others face, interrupting her “but on _one_ condition,”

Tetrox looks serious again, and stands firm as she gives a nod.

Belladonna pinches her chin between thumb and forefinger, closing her eyes in thought. “You see… I don’t think I _trust_ octolings all that much yet… They’re all _shift_ and _suspicious_ looking. I don’t know what they’re up to!” she pauses, holding her breath as she struggles not to laugh, and regain her composure “So, I think I wanna get to know this guy first, before we let him try out… make sure he’s not one of _those_ octolings, and all...”

“ _Belladonna_ !” Tetrox exclaims, letting how absurd she found all of what she had just heard drip through her words “That’s absolutely ridiculous! — I mean, i’m glad you want to get to know him and all — but you have no reason to distrust him just because he’s an octoling! He’s a perfectly normal, great guy—!”  
  
“Oh, that’s good!” Belladonna says sickly sweet as she leans over to come face to face with the other “Because I want you to house him at your apartment for about a week so I can come over and get to know him!”

Tetrox’s eyes become wide as she struggles to find the words. She looked shocked. Absolutely flabbergasted. And Belladonna found it hilarious to no end, and continues to struggle holding in her laughter.

She knows no matter how great of a player the guy is, how great he is at following orders, he wouldn’t be able to co-operate with them. He probably didn’t even want to be on the team, anyway, and was forced to come here today by Tetrox. She could tell he had a bad attitude, and judging by Tetrox’s reaction, he wasn’t as ‘good’ a guy as she was trying to make it out to be. It would only take three days for her facade to crack wide open.

“Wh-wh- what, why!?” Tetrox finally exclaims.

“What’s the problem, Tetrox? You were just going on how much of a _great_ guy he was! I’m sure you’ll have _no_ problem hanging out with you’re good buddy bud an _entire_ week, isn’t that right?”

Tetrox looks like she wants to protest further, but only sighs in what sounds like defeat. “...Yes Ma'am.”

Belladonna gives Tetrox a large pat on the back, and starts heading out of the all back over to the food truck Cyanthia and the Octoling were standing at, and Tetrox followed.

“Alright then, let’s go deliver the good news!”

Belladonna couldn’t help but let a chuckle slip as Tetrox slouched as they walked back to the others. This was going to be an _interesting_ week.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for the read!
> 
> That's all for now, but I definitely have more fics for this AU planned, and will be working on them in the future. I can't say how long it'll take to write the next one, but this series is my main focus for now, so I hope not too long!
> 
> Meanwhile, you can check out [My Tumblr](https://rusted-crutches.tumblr.com/) (New URL!) and ask me any questions you may have about the AU! I have to keep some things to myself for now, but I can probably answer most questions.


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